What I'm up to now

Updated December 22, 2024 from my home in New England, where it’s the start of Fall. Inspired by Derek Sivers. Yup, it's now a movement.

Pickleball! I've been nursing a knee injury for most of the summer but... before that happened, I played more pickleball than ever before. In my humble opinion, it combines the best of ping pong and tennis, and it turns that into a fun, friendly sport greater than the sum of its parts.

Reading and writing poetry. I wouldn't call this a hobby per se, but it's something that has been coming up in my days with unexpected persistance. It feels like part of a swell of personal change. Not something I'm actively choosing to do; instead, I sit and wait and spend time doing not much of anything. After a while, I pick up a pen, and words start flowing. What I end up writing...I'm calling it poetry not because it's about me trying to be a poet, but because it has a quality of authentic self-expression, of catharsis, of wanting nothing but to leave a record of a process. Those words are shed skin of my becoming.

• The Power of Fun (book club, finished)
• The Way to Love (book club, finished)
• The Overstory (currently reading)
• The FSG Poetry Anthology (ongoing)

Most of what I'm thinking nowadays can be summed up as follows: live in the present moment, release outcome, befriend my inner voice. It has been...a challenge. I have a strong inclination to be constantly pushing myself and play the game of life/work/sports on hard mode. Although that brings about its own set of challenges and frustrations, I am learning that it is also my learned way of being. A refined, programmatic beavior. A pattern, with deep, enthrenched roots. Slowing down, choosing the middle way between effort and ease, are uncomfortable and run "against the grain" of how I've lived for many years.

I'm referring to this phase of my life as The Great Quieting/Dissolving. Learning to befriend my ego, and having it take a step back. Practicing saying no to opportunities that are, in fact, distractions, pulling me away from getting to know my soul, my innermost image.

This makes it sound deeply spiritual, and selfish, too. It is. At the same time, it deals directly with reality, with what is. Which means that this process is also incredibly practical, and readily accessible, with ripple effects for those around me.